During use, assembly, or due to changes in the ambient magnetic field, magnetizable pieces of matter may pick up a magnetic bias. Where this occurs in the read/write heads in magnetic recording systems, and particularly in high density data systems, there are several effects which may be deleterious to the performance of the system. One problem is that the recording characteristics of the head deteriorate when the head has magnetic bias. Another problem is that a head used to follow high density data tracks may be forced by the bias to follow to one side or the other of a data track thus risking reading failure or misplaced writings.
Degaussing is a practice which is well known. The process in one form consists of exposing the workpiece to an alternating magnetic field of decreasing intensity. Another degaussing process would be to direct an exponentially decaying alternating current signal through the windings of the read/write head itself. This second method however, requires rigid frequency and current limits in order to protect the head windings from unwanted damage.
Also, due to environmental influences on the degaussing signal generating components themselves, a D.C. offset in the degauss signal will often result. If this bias is not corrected the "Degausser" will bias the head.
The invention herein overcomes these difficulties and provides the degausser with the ability to change the voltage, frequency, and decay paramaters so that a range of workpieces or magnetic read/write heads may be degaussed without changing the circuit components, rather by merely changing the software. No other known degaussing device can do this.